Revealed: Doncaster’s dog fouling problem

Fines were dished out to dozens of irresponsible dog owners in Doncaster last year after their pets fouled the streets.

In total. 29 fines were dished out, it has been revealed after our reporters obtained the figures.

The figure was revealed in a Freedom of Information Request, and which also reveals there were 951 complaints in total about the issue across the borough.

The fines were issued in the form of fixed penalty notices.

Council director of regeneration and environment Peter Dale said: “Dog fouling is deeply unpleasant and totally unnecessary, and we will continue to clamp down on irresponsible dog owners as much as possible.

“Anyone caught not cleaning up after their dog will be issued a Fixed Penalty Notice. We urge everyone to take pride in their community by reporting dog fouling immediately, either on the MyDoncaster app or by phoning 01302 736000.

“We are committed to making Doncaster a better place to live, and these reports are vital to helping us target problem areas and catch those responsible.”

The figures come as it was revealed the number of fines given to people failing to pick up their dog’s mess fell by almost 20 per cent last year.

A third of councils polled in England and Wales did not hand out a single fixed-penalty notice for fouling in 2014-2015, and almost one in six had dished out none for five years.

The overall number of fines fell to 2,868 that year from 3,521 in 2013-2014, its investigation found, a drop of 18.5 per cent

Sheffield City Council, which handed out zero fines last year despite 1,407 complaints said it did not have the resources to patrol parks around the clock.

Information from 302 of 348 local authorities revealed 103 did not hand out fines last year.

Some 48 had not handed any out for five years, including Swindon, Bournemouth, East Hertfordshire and the London boroughs of Bexley and Merton, which it said between them received almost 8,000 public complaints about fouling from 2010-15.